Speaker lobbies MPs to support victims of blasts

National Assembly Speaker Anne Makinda has initiated a lobby for members of Parliament to forgo their Thursday allowances for Gongo la Mboto bomb blast victims.

Makinda announced the initiative yesterday when briefing the MPs about various reports that had reached her.

“As you are all aware of the Gongo la Mboto bomb blasts on Wednesday, all MPs should let their yesterday's allowances be used for the tragedy's victims,” she said without elaboration.

As the Speaker called on all the MPs to support the Gongo la Mboto victims, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda asked all Tanzanians, in and outside the country, and development partners to support the government in coping with the problem.

Pinda was winding up the second meeting of the 10th Parliamentary meeting in Dodoma yesterday.

“I urge all of you to collaborate with the government to give hope to these victims, support and provide them with basic necessities to enable them resume their ordinary lives as soon as practicable,” said Pinda.

The PM, who sent a condolence message to the victims, told the House that so far, 20 people had been killed, 315 injured and 135 hospitalised.

He explained that the explosions had caused tremendous destruction of properties. He briefed the House about President Jakaya Kikwete's visit to the accident scene to see for himself what happened.

He noted that after the president visited the scene, he called for an emergency National Security Council meeting to assess the loss caused by the bomb blasts and look for urgent measures to help the victims.

“As the president said, we ask the people to be patient and return to their respective homes while the government is looking for ways to solve the problem. We are aware that the fatal accident has wrecked havoc to a lot of people,” the PM said.